Resilience. I think we have all heard this word a lot by now this year. What does resilience really mean? According to the Mirriam-Webster Dictionary, resilience is defined as “an ability to recover from or adjust easily to misfortune or change.”
Everyone’s life has been impacted in some way by COVID, whether personally getting sick or having a loved one get sick, or changes to work, school or your personal lifestyle.
If ever there was a time to talk about career resilience, 2020 is it. Many people have transitioned to working from home, potentially juggling childcare and remote learning along with that transition. Many more have been laid off and are looking for work. Still others are continuing to go into their jobs in person, as part of the essential workforce.
While this year is hopefully more challenging than most, everyone encounters difficult periods of time in their career. Building resilience within your career is a critical skill for the future of work.
How can you build your career resilience during this time? Read on for 5 ways to build career resilience.
Focus
Focus on the most important goals and activities for your job. What are the key projects or who are your key clients? What activities can you focus on to make sure you are moving the needle on those key projects? What is critical that you accomplish and what can wait?
Making time to focus on these critical activities is also important, which I know can be difficult right now. Where can you carve out periods of time, however small, in your week to focus on your most critical tasks?
Motivation
Being self-motivated and continuing to encourage yourself to move forward is critical towards developing a resilient mindset.
How do you do this?
One strategy is to think of the end goal to motivate yourself to work towards that. Why is your work important? Why do you do what you do? Why is the project you are working on important?
A second strategy is to read about successful people you admire and their career stories. We have all seen the stories of well-known athletes or other celebrities that faced rejection early in their career only to achieve success later. Success often requires a lot of work that people don’t see. People see the end result, but not the whole road to get there. In looking at other people you deem successful, keep in mind your definition of success. Everyone’s definition of success is different and everyone is also at a different point in their career. Use these examples not as a comparison point, but to motivate you to keep going.
A third strategy is to enlist help to keep you motivated through a friend, mentor, coach or your personal board of directors.
Learning
When you encounter a difficult situation, think about what lessons you can learn and take away from that situation. This can be easier said than done, but I do believe that we can learn something from every situation, no matter how difficult the situation. Often, the biggest lessons learned come from the most difficult situations. The lesson may not be apparent right away. Sometimes, taking the time and space to reflect allows the lesson from that situation to become obvious only later. Apply these lessons learned to future situations.
Moving Forward
We all have setbacks or bad days. How do you move on from these? This is the key to being resilient. Give yourself the time to be frustrated, mad, angry, upset, whatever the emotion may be. But don’t dwell on it. The next day is a new day, pick yourself up and start again.
Ask For Help
Know when to ask for help and accommodations. It is okay to ask for help if that will allow you to move forward. Besides tapping into your own network for support, consider what you may need from your current employer. Is there an adjustment to your work schedule that can help your current situation? Is there another accommodation that can be made? Your boss or colleagues will not understand your current situation and what you may need unless you ask!
Throughout our careers, we will all face challenges and the ability to be resilient and adjust to these changes has never been more important. Use the strategies above to help you build your resilience mindset and come out stronger on the other side!
Do you need help working through a career challenge and becoming more resilient in your career? Reach out to me at kristen@kmcareercoaching.com